Friday, June 24, 2011

Sweet

In the last week or so (since I wrote that post about feeling isolated), I've had a few phone calls to remind me that I'm not. Isolated, that is, or forgotten, by my own, others', and especially God's reckoning. And these calls have come from such diverse parts of my life as to NOT confuse me by some kind of theory that anyone other than God might have orchestrated them. That post, as far as I can tell--looking carefully and honestly within myself (as much as anyone can look inward)--was not a cry for reassurance, but that reassurance was given anyway.

Last week, on the very day that post posted, a blessed friend from far away called to say she feels it too. And wonders, as I did in my musings, how long this season will be. We had a moment of communion there on the phone, reminding ourselves that it is a season. We aren't alone. Yes, it's a different season, with different purposes--granted, cloudy purposes, at the moment--but we aren't alone. So we were reminded together, by God and each other. I was as glad for the call as she had been for my post. It was as if we'd sat on her couch together with cups of tea, for the kind of conversation that had served us so well when we'd lived closer.

Yesterday, my sister-in-law called. It was sweet, which isn't an adjective anyone (including her) would normally associate with her. She might cringe to hear me call her thusly, but that's how I felt when I pressed the END button on my phone (sidebar: we should take the phrase 'hang up the phone' from our lexicon, since almost no one has the kind of phone that requires such an action now): that it had been sweet of her to call, sweet to talk to her, and a sweet moment of connection, as such real connections always are when they happen. Sweet as in God is the fragrance of our conversation, because even if we don't overtly speak of Him, He is present, the motive behind her concern and behind our words as well.

On the heels of that phone call, came another with a friend who is living a very similar life to mine. There are so many things pulling at her--parents, in-law parents, kids, that the large circle of friends she's always had time for in the past has dried up. We spoke of this being a season. Or at least the hope that this is a season. Of course it will be. And we will grieve when it's over, because that means that these beloved parents (for her) and in-law parents (for both of us) will have gone home. And as hard as caring for them is, we will miss them. And know that these days are sweet. Yes, there's that word again. Permeating my life. Or should I say, perfuming it.

So these phone calls, each different, each from a person in a very unique situation from each other, but each reminding me that we are in this together. This thing called God's body, and this thing called being women of a certain age. And I'm better for these phone calls, I feel better, and I'm a better person. Being sharpened by the Holy Spirit sometimes comes in the form of being reassured by Him. At least that's be my experience.

God is faithful, in the smallest of ways. If He puts someone on your heart to call, do it. You are His instrument, after all. To comfort, to sweeten, to sharpen, to simply be with those in need of Him.